... Valentine's Day is approaching, which reminds me of this "Love-at-first-sight" thingy - just SO American! "Oh my gosh, it's so romantic! I looked in his eyes and it was love at first sight." Or, "when I saw him, he blew me away - it was love at first sight!". Yeah, yeah! It's nothing but "blah" to us Germans - just another "Kommerzieller Feiertag"!
But how can it be? How can this "Love-at-first-sight" phenomenon happen in the US of A? Americans don't even LOOK at each other! They don't take a peak at each other while sitting in the train, they don't look at other people while eating or sitting at a restaurant/bar, nor do they look at anybody walking the streets. I did all of the above today and nobody looked! Neither at me nor anybody else! Everybody on the train was busy reading or looking out of the window or talking on the telephone (while trying REALLY hard NOT to look at anybody - but oh boy, did we HEAR the whole conversation! But that's another blog comment!). In the restaurant everybody looks on their own plate, or on their neighbor's plate, or maybe glances up at the waiter.
Germans do look all the time! Germans stare at other people all the time; they look what other people are wearing, they look what other people are doing, they even look if other people are staring back! Now, I'm not saying that staring is going to find you love at first sight, but which country has better chances to find somebody and fall in love at first sight??
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To all romantics out there: it's been studied and it's a total myth! There is no love at first sight! This study shows that it is nothing else but selfishness and - shocking!! - SEX! Yes, it's nothing but a narcissistic reaction. We find ourselves attracted to people that find us attractive!
But how can it be? How can this "Love-at-first-sight" phenomenon happen in the US of A? Americans don't even LOOK at each other! They don't take a peak at each other while sitting in the train, they don't look at other people while eating or sitting at a restaurant/bar, nor do they look at anybody walking the streets. I did all of the above today and nobody looked! Neither at me nor anybody else! Everybody on the train was busy reading or looking out of the window or talking on the telephone (while trying REALLY hard NOT to look at anybody - but oh boy, did we HEAR the whole conversation! But that's another blog comment!). In the restaurant everybody looks on their own plate, or on their neighbor's plate, or maybe glances up at the waiter.
Germans do look all the time! Germans stare at other people all the time; they look what other people are wearing, they look what other people are doing, they even look if other people are staring back! Now, I'm not saying that staring is going to find you love at first sight, but which country has better chances to find somebody and fall in love at first sight??
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To all romantics out there: it's been studied and it's a total myth! There is no love at first sight! This study shows that it is nothing else but selfishness and - shocking!! - SEX! Yes, it's nothing but a narcissistic reaction. We find ourselves attracted to people that find us attractive!
so true!
ReplyDeleteBut I noticed that they kinda want to look and be looked at (Americans that is) because I do look at people all the time, and sometimes somebody "catches" me looking at them...they look away but look right back to see if I am actually really doing what they think I am , which is looking...lol and then I smile and I get the BIGGEST smiles back...like Yeah thanks for looking!lol
I tried that today... I looked at some people (women!) and they looked back like they were going to come after me!
ReplyDeleteAnd then, I SMILED, and they smiled back :)